A vehicular information system disclosed in Japanese patent document JP-A-2001-357498 uses a technique that changes an information provision style for a driver of a vehicle depending on a condition whether a driver's gazing point detected by a gaze detector falls in a predetermined area that defines a driver's view around an obstacle in front of the vehicle when a location of the obstacle relative to the vehicle is detected by an obstacle detector.
The technique in the above disclosure uses a liquid crystal display device disposed on an instrument panel and a headup display device that displays an image on a lower portion of a windshield. However, when information is displayed on the liquid crystal display for the driver, the position of the liquid crystal display far out of the driver's view makes it difficult for the driver to quickly recognize the provision of the information when the driver is involved in a driving operation. That is, the information on the liquid crystal display may be prone to be overlooked by the driver.
On the other hand, though the headup display is positioned in the driver's view, the driver's attention may be distracted from the driving operation when the image in the headup display contains a complicated form of information. That is, the information in the headup display may be served in an inappropriate manner for the driver due to the form of the information provided therein. Therefore, the technique in the above disclosure copes with the above-described problems by employing an operation scheme that provides obstacle information for the driver based on an assumption that provision of the obstacle information is required for the driver when the detected obstacle is not within the driver's view that is defined as a predetermined area around the driver's gazing point.
However, the information about an obstacle in a dead angle of the driver cannot be provided for the driver by the vehicle information system that employs the above-described operation scheme because the obstacle is not in the driver's view for all the time. In other words, the information about the obstacle in the dead angle of the driver cannot be provided for the driver in a manner that does not distract driver's attention inappropriately or a manner that does not tend to be overlooked.